An unlikely duo has teamed up under the Creative Gunning banner to perform a collaboration, an ‘Ancient Worlds in Harmony Concert’ featuring hand-crafted didgeridoos and a traditional Japanese shō.
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00:00The country town of Gunning, just to the north of Canberra, isn't the sort of place you'd expect to witness a world premiere.
00:09But a world premiere is exactly what I've just experienced.
00:15It's the first time that a 7th century Japanese wind music show has come together with an Aboriginal didgeridoo.
00:36So it's pretty special, isn't it?
00:38Yeah, very special.
00:39The Gunning Southern Tablelands Arts contacted me and they contacted Henry Link from Sydney.
00:44We wrote a piece together in the last three months and then we put on a show here tonight.
01:02I don't think there's been a lot of pieces written for the combination that we just had, which is a Japanese show and a didgeridoo.
01:09I don't actually know of any other pieces written for this combination of instruments.
01:14Now, there's not many Japanese show players in Australia. Am I looking at the only one?
01:20As far as I know, yes. Over a thousand years ago, it was used in the imperial court to perform music for the imperial family.
01:29And then it's sort of stayed dormant for about a thousand years and it's only had a more of a resurgence in the last hundred years,
01:3650 to 100 years, because of some show performers who collaborated with Western performers as well.
01:42So now it's becoming more popular again.
01:45Is that the most unusual instrument you've performed alongside her?
01:49Yeah, very much so. Having 17 different pipes and the exhale, inhale, it's a lot different to what I've played before.
02:05You need to keep the instrument warm with either wrapping it up in an electric blanket or putting it on a heater.
02:16Why does the instrument need to keep warm?
02:19I can actually show you. So that's a reed, really thin reed with a bit of melted lead shot on top.
02:27And so that centre piece of the reed, when you're breathing into the instrument, inhaling and exhaling through the instrument,
02:35the condensation from my breath would latch onto that reed.
02:39And because it's so small, the heaviness of the condensation stops the reed from vibrating.
02:44So I have to keep it constantly dry with an electric heater.
02:48Is the didge easy or is the show easier? Which is the easiest?
02:55I mean, to make a sound, I would say the show is easier.
03:00I think they're both on par.
03:01Yeah, they're both pretty hard to pick up and play.
03:04So didgeridoo, you have to do quite a lot with the secular breathing, but also the buzzing of the lips, which I'm really bad at.
03:10And will you ever come back to Gunning again?
03:12Oh yeah, of course.
03:14For another show, another show.
03:15Another show, for sure. Yeah, I love it.